REGISTRATION NOW OPEN FOR THE 2026 FIRESTARTER TOURNAMENT!

Tournament Rules

General Rules

  1. We will follow Hockey Canada Rules and Hockey Alberta Regulations.
  2. Minimum Suspension Guidelines will follow the Hockey Alberta Regulations (Appendix V – Minimum Suspensions).  Players and coaches may be subject to additional penalties by their own governing body.
  3. If you have players attending Firestarter who are required to serve a carryover suspension by your own branch, please advise the Tournament Director before your respective tournament’s first game. Suspension-served information will then be noted on the game sheet.
  4. All decisions made by the officials on ice or by the Firestarter Tournament Committee are final.
  5. Teams will be responsible for any damages caused to hotels, dressing rooms, or arena facilities.
  6. For Sunday games, the Tournament Director reserves the right to change the order of games to assist teams with travel plans. Teams will be notified Saturday evening of their play times for Sunday. An update will also be posted on the Firestarter Tournament website.

 

Requirements from Great Plains Arena
We have a very good relationship with our host arena and its staff. Please help us to keep it that way.

  1. Please leave the dressing rooms in the condition you find them, if not better.
  2. The Firestarter Tournament and the Arena are not responsible for lost or stolen items. It is therefore each team’s responsibility to ensure the dressing room doors are locked. It is recommended that teams bring their own padlock with them.
  3. Please do not arrive at the arena excessively early for your game (i.e. 2 hours before). Teams will only have access to your assigned dressing room approximately 60 minutes before your game time. The arena does not have storage areas for hockey bags, treatment tables, etc., and public areas, including the corridor behind the players’ benches, should be kept clear at all times.
  4. All warm up activities should take place outside of the building on the green space opposite the arena. No balls, pucks, etc. are allowed in the public areas. If the weather is inclement, arena staff will advise as to where teams can warm up.
  5. Outside food is currently allowed to be consumed in the arena. Please ensure garbage is disposed of in the provided garbage cans.
  6. No crock pots, slow cookers, etc., are to be plugged into the outlets in the arena. This is a requirement from Alberta Health Services (AHS).  If you wish to heat up/cook food for the team, please book one of the multi-purpose rooms directly with the arena info@gprf.ca
  7. During pregame cheer and post game celebrations, players are NOT to stand on the back of the goal net or sit/hang/lay on the top of the goal net. Any damages caused to the netting or padding will be charged back to the team.

 

Tournament Format

  1. Tournament will be a 4 game guarantee, with elimination games among the top 8 teams on Saturday/Sunday and the 4 winning teams from the elimination games playing in the Bronze and Gold finals on Sunday.
  2. All games consist of three, 20-minute stop time periods (20-20-20).

    For the U18AAA & U18AA Tournament


      • Ice will be cleaned after every period.
      • Teams will leave the ice for 15 minutes when a flood takes place.

    For the U15AA Tournament

      • Due to time restrictions, Ice will be cleaned after every other period.
      • Teams will leave the ice for 15 minutes when a flood takes place, but remain on the ice when there is no flood, with a short 5 minute break.
  3. Due to time restrictions, the national anthem will not be played before games.
  4. Five-minute warm up begins immediately following ice cleaning. At the conclusion of warm up, teams must line up immediately to play or risk a delay of game penalty.
  5. Designated home team will wear dark-coloured jerseys and the visiting team will wear light-coloured jerseys.
  6. Timeouts are allowed in Bronze and Gold games only; each team is allowed one 30-second time out.
  7. All game sheets are electronically input real-time using HockeyTech. With a short turnaround between games, coaches will not be asked to sign off on lineups before or after the game. After the game finishes, there is a 5 minute window of opportunity for coaches/managers to request an amendment (i.e. assists) to the game sheet.  These requests must be made in person by a coach/manager from the team; no requests from parents will be accepted. Amendments will not be made to the game sheets after they have been submitted/closed in HockeyTech.
  8. Player of the Game awards will be given to each team before their respective games. Coaches will select the Player of the Game for their team, and can announce the selection in the dressing room after the game. The exception is the medal games on Sunday, when the Coaches will select the Player of the Game from the opposing team, and the award will be made on the ice.

 

Standings Will Be Determined By

  • 3 Points for a Regulation Win
  • 2 Points for a Overtime/Shootout Win
  • 1 Point for a Overtime/Shootout Loss
  • 0 Points for a Regulation Loss

For the U18AAA Tournament

  • Points will be calculated at the end of the round robin pool games to determine games and opponents for Saturday and Sunday’s games.
  • Aggregate tournament points will again be calculated among the WINNERS of Saturday’s #1 vs. #2 games to determine the placement of those 4 winners in the Bronze and Gold games.

For the U18AA & U15AA Tournament

  • Points will be calculated at the end of the round robin pool games to determine games and opponents for Sunday’s games.
  • Aggregate tournament points will again be calculated among the WINNERS of Sunday’s #1 vs. #2 games to determine the placement of those 4 winners in the Bronze and Gold games.

 

Overtime and Shootouts

Round Robin & Pool Placement Games

  • If tied at the end of regulation, games proceed directly to a Shootout.

Elimination & Medal Games

  • If tied at the end of regulation, teams will proceed with Overtime.
  • If still tied at the end of overtime, teams will proceed to a Shootout.

Shootout Rules

  1. Subject to ice permit limitations, games proceed without changing ends of the ice.
  2. If tied at the end of regulation/overtime, each team will select 3 players for round one.
  3. Players serving penalties that do not expire before the end of regulation/overtime, will not be eligible to shoot in the shootout.
  4. The visiting team will shoot first, then teams will alternate shooters until a winning team is determined or until all three shooters from both teams have shot.
  5. If at the end of round one the score is still tied, each team will alternate one shooter each until a winner is declared.
  6. Players can only shoot once until all players on their bench have shot. This rule also applies to the first three shooters.

Overtime Rules

  1. Overtime will only be used to determine the winner of Elimination & Medal Games.
  2. Subject to ice permit limitations, games proceed without changing ends of the ice.
  3. If tied at the end of regulation, teams will play 5-minute stop time overtime, 3-on-3 plus goaltenders, sudden victory.
  4. Players serving penalties that do not expire before the end of regulation, will continue to serve the remaining penalty time in overtime.
  5. If still tied at the end of overtime, teams will proceed to a shootout.

 

Tiebreakers

Two Teams Tied

Point Tie Breakers in Order:

  1. Head-to-Head Winner
  2. Total “number of wins” in all the games played
  3. Aggregate “goals for” minus “goals against” in all the games played
  4. Fewest total “penalty minutes” in all the games played
  5. Fewest total “goals against” in all the games played
  6. Most total “goals for” in all the games played
  7. The winner will be decided by a single “toss of a coin”

Three or More Teams Tied

This tiebreaker is used to determine the seeding of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.:

  1. Total “number of wins” in all the games played
  2. If still tied, the team with the fewest “goals against” in all the games played
  3. If still tied, the team with the most “goals for” in all the games played
  4. If still tied, the team with the least number of total “penalty minutes” in all games played
  5. If still tied, after all previous methods have been applied, the winner will be decided by a single “toss of a coin”. In a three coin toss, the odd team gains the highest position.

NOTE: Once a step in the three or more team tiebreaker establishes a ranking of a team(s), they assume that position, and the remaining teams go to the next step.  They do not go back to the “Two Team Tiebreaker”